History

History of Bremen Airport

1909 - 1919

With the founding of the “Bremer Association for Airship Travel” the cornerstone for Airport Bremen was laid in 1909. Together with the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, the association was contracted by the senate to develop an airship station – the parade grounds are chosen as its location. However, an airship never arrived on the holm, only the LZ-12 Hansa landed in Bremen – namely on the Neuenlander field. On 16 May 1913, the association, which had in the meantime crossed the “ship” from its name, was contracted by the senate to construct an aviation base. This is Airport Bremen‘s birthday. In 1914, the participants celebrated the inauguration of the first aircraft hangar on the Neuenlander field.

1920 - 1929

On 18 July 1920, the official inauguration of Airport Bremen, still under the management of the Bremer Association for Air Travel, still took place. Just one and a half months later, the first scheduled flight by the KLM airline company landed. On 24 September the same year, the national assembly approved three million Reichsmark for the expansion of the airport – over its course, the Bremen Airport Company was established. In 1924, Focke-Wulff-Flugzeugbau AG, the aircraft makers, finally began operations on the grounds. Two years later, German Luft Hansa was created out of Aero-Lloyd and the Junkers-Luftverkehr AG, which incorporated Bremen into the route network immediately after being founded.

1930 - 1939

At the beginning of the 1930s, air traffic collapsed and fell to virtually zero in 1933 when the National Socialist Party came into power. Luft Hansa gained the monopoly and Bremen vanished from the network. But lobbyists from the Hanseatic City intervened in Berlin: as a result, a new terminal and most of all a runway system came into operation in 1937, which made it one of the most modern airports at the time. With the outbreak of World War II, civil aviation ground to a halt.

1940-1949

During the war years, the facilities were completely destroyed. In 1945, management was taken over by American troops, who returned the airport to Bremen’s civil administration four years later. This was accompanied by the restoration of the facilities and the extension of the runway.

On 1 April 1949, the Scandinavian airline SAS opened two routes from Bremen to Düsseldorf and Frankfurt am Main.

1950-1959

In August 1954, the German Lufthansa AG emerged out of the Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf, which incorporated Bremen into its route network around two and a half years later. However, before this, on exactly 1 May 1956, a milestone was inaugurated: Lufthansa's commercial pilot school, which supports pilots' basic training to the present day. In 1957, the privately operated airport becomes the city-owned Flughafen Bremen GmbH.

1960-1969

This decade was under the banner of technological revolution with the advent of jet aircrafts: the first, a Lufthansa Boeing 720B, already landed in 1952, the airline company initiated route service with the most modern aircraft in 1965.

1970-1979

The senate decided, in 1973, to establish the airport as a regional airport – in the process, the river Ochtum is deviated and the landing strip expanded to a length of 2.034 metres. In 1979, the new departure hall is inaugurated and for the first time more than 700.000 passengers are counted.

1980-1989

In 1983, the friend´s association of Bremen Airport was founded, which has more than 200 members today. Three years later, the planning procedure for the deviation of the river Ochtum is initiated: the manufacture of airbus wings necessitated an expansion of the starting and landing strip to 2.634 metres. At the end of the decade, a new era commences with the launch of the investment programme "Flughafen 2000". In addition, passenger numbers surpass one million for the first time in 1989.

1990-1999

The programme "Flughafen 2000" proved effective: the inauguration of the first building phase of the new terminal in 1993, beginning of operations of the new freight centre in 1995 as well as the inauguration of the departure terminal in 1998 and with it completion of work – a completely new airport was the result, in front of whose doors the tramway stops.

2000-2009

Next to the airline companies OLT and Air France, the Irish Ryanair incorporated Bremen into its flight schedule. And not only that: the airline stationed three aircraft in the Hanseatic City. That the airport was tipped for success was shown by the flight guest numbers: 2.486.337 flight guests launched in Bremen in 2008.

10 May 2009

More than 130.000 visitors excitedly celebrated 100 years of aviation in Bremen: aerobatics shows, the A380, several flying and driving old-timers and much more as part of a multifaceted programme attracted spectators to the Neuenlander field while a brilliant sun reigned up above – “awesome” and “goose bumps” were the most used words on this day.

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Der Bremen Airport

With almost 30 non-stop destinations in many countries in Europe and North Africa, Bremen Airport ranks among Germany’s key international commercial airports. Bremen Airport is Europe’s fastest airport for departures. Travellers will not find an international airport in Germany closer to the city centre. It takes only eleven minutes for passengers to reach the airport from the city centre. The tram stops directly in front of the terminal.

Passengers benefit from the excellent daily connecting services to the important European hubs like Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Zürich and Istanbul.

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